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Kidney Cancer - Wilms' Tumor (nephroblastoma)Wilms Tumor InformationWilms tumor, also called nephroblastoma, is the most common type of kidney cancer that affects children. It is listed as a rare diseased by the Office of Rare Diseases of the National Institute of Health because it affects less than 200,000 people in the US population. Approximately 5.6 percent of the "children cancers" are Wilms tumors. It predominantly occurs in the first five years of the child's life, especially around age three or four (which is the peak age for this type of cancer), and rarely occurs in children older than 8 years. It usually affects only one kidney, but in few cases (5 percent) tumors occur in both kidneys.
1. Wilms tumor with a favorable appearance. This is a common type of Wilms' tumor. Around 95 percent of the children that suffer from kidney cancer have a favorable histology. When examined under microscope, the cells of a favorable appearance Wilms tumor are uniform and do not vary inappearance. This type of cancer responds well to treatment. 2. Wilms tumor with an unfavorable appearance. When examined under microscope, the cells of an unfavorable appearance Wilms tumor have two distinctive features: (1) the cancerous cell nuclei (the central part of a cell that contains the DNA) are large and distorted, and (2) the cancerous cells are not uniform and their appearance varies (anaplasia). When the anaplasia is significant, the treatment outcome is poor. In addition to Wilms' tumor, there are two other types of children kidney cancers, which initially were classified as Wilms' tumors with unfavorable histology (appearance), but now they are classified separately.
These two children kidney cancers have a poor prognosis when the cancer has spread beyond the kidney. The treatment approach for clear cell sarcoma of the kidney and rhabdoid tumor is similar with Wilms tumors only more intensively. Good Prognosis: Wilms' tumor is best treated when diagnosed in the early stages, before the cancer has spread in the body. Nearly half of all Wilms tumor cases are diagnosed in the first stage, when the treatment outcome is good. The prognosis for most cases is good and statistics show that 92 percent of children diagnosed with Wilms' tumor are treated effectively.
Article by Alina Morrow, MS Page Covers: What are the types of Wilms Tumor (kidney cancer)?
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Page Last Modified:
10/13/2010